Blacksmith quest :Take Two

[Megaolix]

So... Just remembering, but how good Archer is at things that don't involve swords again?

 

[Fellgar]

So... Just remembering, but how good Archer is at things that don't involve swords again?

Click to shrink...

I believe the word used is competent.

 

[Bloodshifter]

[X]Reveal that you are a magus. Surely you'll do better.
-[X]Can you scan to see if I have the Prana needed for the healing?
[X]Keep him. You have question for him.

 

[Selias]

Although classified under the Archer class, he was not a swordsman nor an archer in life, but a magus at his core relying on his one spell, Unlimited Blade Works, to fight. Despite being a skilled combatant, his true unique strength lies within the manufacturing of weapons rather than their use. His abilities in life were unremarkable overall, utilizing Reinforcement with difficulty and the "structural analysis" step of projection more often than anything else. Only Projection had any worth, having granted him the many Noble Phantasms and combat skills they hold. Aside from Projection, he can also use magic detection and magic resistance, which are considered very basic. He does not posses the ability to utilize offensive magecraft that work around the lines of nature interference. His dark skin, white hair, and gray eyes are a side effect of extensively using Projection Magecraft.

Click to shrink...

[X] Call the damn ambulance. They're far more reliable than an amateur magus. Guard her while she recovers.

[X] Give him to the cops. Stalked and injured a child. Mention that he's "an epser or something." (Is magic widely known in that universe?)

 

[nick012000]

[X] Reveal that you're a magus.
[X] Keep the magus for interrogation later.

 

[Scope]

Prana Transfer of the non-sexual kind!

 

[Biigoh]

[X]Go along with his plan. it may reduce the collateral damage.
[X]Keep him. You have question for him.

 

[Pipeman]

[X]Go along with his plan. it may reduce the collateral damage.
[X]Keep him. You have question for him.


Right, first of all, that plan of doing this ourselves?
Complete idiocy.
We are fucking horrible at anything that isn't sword magic or its derivatives.
Chances are pretty good that we are fucking horrible at this as well.

And that's not even going into the issue that this is magic from a completely different system.
Our previous eductation is likely going to do more harm than good in trying to utilize Raildex verse magic.
That is, if we can use this world's magic at all without literally ripping ourselves apart due to being an Esper, because chances are pretty good that we can only use magecraft native to the Nasuverse without killing ourselves.

Add to that the clusterfuck that using any form of magic openly in spite of being an Esper will drag us into and you have several solid reasons not to do this.


Calling an ambulance is tempting, if only to avoid the ridiculousness of trying to keep Index' presence a secret in spite of literally everyone of note knowing she's here, but the problem with that is that it would also drag attention to us.

We have enough on our plate already without having to deal with everyone we know (and don't remember) approaching us and trying to find out what happened or the authorities taking a closer look at us before we've settled in.

And due to our personality and the voting base I just don't see leaving this to Touma winning, which means by process of elimination that we just go along with Touma's plan.


Keeping Stiyl around is just to avoid having to deal with all of that exposition trickling in ridiculously slowly over the course of several episodes/updates.
Instead we can just have Stiyl spilling out the truth in the presence of Komoe-sensei, Komoe-sensei calling bullshit on the ridiculously bullshit story the church has been gicing them and deal with the plot of 5 episodes in a single evening.

 

[Megaolix]

[X]Go along with his plan. it may reduce the collateral damage.
[X]Keep him. You have question for him.

Observe how it works here first, try to use after. Not the reverse.

 

[Zasnul]

[X]Go along with his plan. it may reduce the collateral damage.
[X]Keep him. You have question for him.

 

[Alexander]

[X] Go along with his plan. it may reduce the collateral damage.
[X] Keep him. You have question for him.

 

[Bloodshifter]

Archer won't be DOING the spell the Index will Archer is simply lending the Prana for it. It won't matter how nad at not sword things *which he is passable at* he is he won't be incharge.

 

[iamnuff]

how exactly can we be worse at this than someone who isn't a magus at all?


seriously, thats the plan, "find someone with a working circuit, teach them how to heal, have them do it"


i really don't see how we can be worse than that.

besides, only shirou was fail at everything, (because no training) Archer is merely "passible"

[X]Reveal that you are a magus. Surely you'll do better.
-[X]Can you scan to see if I have the Prana needed for the healing?
[X]Keep him. You have question for him.

 

[Liam-don]

[X]Go along with his plan. it may reduce the collateral damage.
[X]Keep him. You have question for him.


1d100 for insight roll. DC 50.

 

[Megaolix]

Fine, I'll do it...

[blockquote]Rolled 1d100 : 94, total 94[/blockquote]

 

[Bloodshifter]

Megalolix I love you

 

[Biigoh]

[blockquote]Rolled 1d100 : 90, total 90[/blockquote]

Attacks Mega's roll~

 

[Liam-don]

The girl has passed out. You need to decide quickly.

You sigh. In your experience, magi are very attached to their secrecy and would go to any length to preserve it. Back to clandestinity then.

"How far away is your teacher's place?"

The boy perks up at your approval. "Not far at all! 10 minutes at a fast jog!"

You nod. "Let 's hurry. You carry her and I'll take care of this one," stepping toward the downed magus.

The boy hesitates. "What do you plan to do with him?"

"Take him with us, obviously. His friends won't give up because I gave him a few bruises. If we're planning on solving this situation, this boy will be a big help."

"An hostage you mean," he grumbles as he lifts the nun in his arms. "Makes me feel like the bad guy."

You don't roll your eyes, but it's a close thing. "I'm more interested in his side of things, really. You pocket the boy's ring, disrobe him and rip parts of the cloth to bind his limbs together. That done, you sling the hopefully harmless boy over your shoulder. "Who knows, maybe we'll be able to resolve this peacefully."

Spiky stares at you. "Your words and actions don't match at all."

You shrug. "Let's hurry."

With a grumble about how unfortunate this is and that you'll probably all end up in jail, the two of you set off with your luggages.

Fortunately the night has fallen and you move fast while through the badly lit back alleys. While you're walking the boy tells you what little he knows of the situation. The nun, Index, landed yesterday on his balcony and demanded to be fed. The boy accepted, not wanting the bad karma of refusing a woman of the clothes. During the meal the girl revealed that she was pursued by a group of magicians for the 103,000 Grimoires in her possession.

You cut him off. "Again with the thousands of books. Does she carry a key for a secret warehouse?"

"That what I thought at first to. But Styil Magnus, the guy you're carrying, said that she has them all stored in her brain. Index has perfect memory and the English Protestant Church shoved them all in her head."

The nun had left shortly after that, warning him that her staying would drag him to the depths of hell with her. He'd thought the odd encounter would be the end of it, until he discovered her this evening at his front door, badly injured.

"You met this girl for the first time yesterday?" He nods. "Then why are you risking your life for her?"

"I couldn't live with myself knowing I'd ran away and failed to protect one lone girl. If she is in the depths of hell, then I'll drag her out!" He declares with steely determination.

You nearly cringe, his word hitting a little too close to home. This was a city of espers though, so maybe he had the power to back up his talk.

"Also my right hand is the reason Index's Walking Church was destroyed, so I'm partly responsible for her injuries." He admits guiltily

"What's a Walking Church?"

The boy shrugs. "That's what she called her clothes. Supposedly it was an absolute defense that could stop any attack or magic, but Imagine Breaker destroy any supernatural phenomenon it touches."

An anti-magecraft ability? That could be handy. "Though it didn't work against the elemental, did it?"

"It did, but according to Index Innocentius would always revive so long as the runes to call him was around." He grins. "Beating the magician black and blue works fine too, I guess."

Soon after, you reach your destination. The boy bangs at the door until a child's voice answers. "Yes, yes! I'm coming. I hope you're not a newpapers salesperson!"

The door opens and a strange creature appears.

It's a child dressed in a bunny-eared pajamas, you realize after you've managed to process all the pink. The whole thing is sickeningly cute.

She takes a good look at your group before settling on the spiky haired boy. "Ara, Kamijou-chan? Who are your friends."

"Komoe-sensei! We need your help!"

"That kid is your teacher?"

"How mean, I'm a proper adult!" She waves her arms in indignation, which does nothing to help her case.

Then the nun starts shining in Kamijou's arms, cutting short the budding argument. "Warning, chapter2, Stanza 6, the loss of vital evergy due to blood loss has exceeded safely levels. Forcibly awakening in John's Pen mode. Presently, according to the International Standard Time shown on the clock tower in London, my body will lose the minimum amount of mana needed to sustain life and will die in fifteen minutes. I would be appreciative if you were to follow my instructions and apply treatment. "

"Awawa," Komoe whimpers in surprise.

"Sorry sensei, this is an emergency." Kamijou forcefully walks into her room and you follow him after bowing to the tiny teacher in apology.

The place is an awful mess, beer cans and empty cigarettes packs competing with dirty clothes and plates. But that's beyond the point right now, the nun once again asks Komoe for her support and tell Kamijou to leave. Apparently, his mere presence might interfere with the healing magic.

"What about us?" You ask.

"You may remain."

You drop Styil in a corner and sit down near him. The teacher is as far as you can tell a completely ordinary person. Which is what Index asked for. Somehow ,this brand of magic seems to not require Magic Circuits.

The very idea boggles the mind.

But the girl has access to an incredible amount of magic knowledge, you remind yourself. It is possible she knows a shortcut that doesn't require Circuits, as impossible as it sounds. Regardless, you're very curious as to what kind of magic they're going to use.

The process is far beyond your expectations. Rather than instructing Komoe in the sort of spirit healing you are familiar with, Index manufactures in a matter of minutes a ritual to transform the room into a temple linked to the higher planes. Then by singing Komoe calls down a Cherub and borrow its power to heal Index. As soon as the healing is finished, Index stops glowing and falls asleep.

In your corner, you're having a hard time handling what just happened.

They called down a Divine Beast to stitch a flesh wound.

You have no words. This is the equivalent of dropping the entire world's nuclear arsenal on a small chack to clear out a rodent infestation.

That the process worked without a proper magus with Magic circuits performing is sidelined by all the way making such a creature pay attention to the human world could have gone wrong.

What were they thinking?

"Getting scared?"

You snap back to reality. Styil Magnus is awake and grins dangerously at you. "You've realized it, haven't you? That you've jumped blindly into a situation far beyond what you can handle."

His bluster helps to distract you from the implication of what you've just seen, and you revert to your usual nochalance. "So far I've been dealing pretty well. For one," you wave your hands. "I'm still free."

The boy laughs loudly, a harsh sound that makes Komoe cower. "Don't kid yourself. I'm not the one in danger here. You, that other guy and that brat you've dragged into this. You're all already dead."

As if on cue, an enormous pressure fills the entire room. In a screech of metal against metal, the front door is sliced twice before a boot kick in the remains.

A young woman walks in, her gaze sharp like drawn steel.

Her strange attire doesn't so much as register, even her long No-dachi is only worth a half-thought as your Reality Marble records it. (Shichiten Shichitou, high grade mystic code that can generates ultra-thin wires to cut down the enemy. Tough, well mantained, highly attuned to mana. Also reliable for the traditional use of a sword)

What draws your attention is her aura. The woman radiates a power the likes of which you've rarely seen. Divinity. Like Golden King Gilgamesh or the mighty Herakles, that woman's existence is close to the Gods. Her spirit and body have been touched by the Divine. Not a blessing, but a fundamental part of her nature.

"A saint." You aknowledge.

The woman nods at you. "How perceptive. If you understant that much then you know resistance is out of the question. Hand over my partner and Index."

You understand what Styil meant now. If you were still a Heroic spirit, you could put up a fight, but now...

You're so outgunned it's not even funny.

But giving up isn't your style.

You put an arm over Styil's shoulders. "Let's not get hasty. None of us want to do something he'd regret." You stare right back at her unflinchingly. She doesn't scare you.

The girl's eyes narrow and she draws her blade, just barely. "Nanasen"

Komoe cries out in terror as her table fall in pieces. You might have seen the thin wires that sliced it, but they were so fast as to be completely beyond her perception.

"Do not test me again. Release him, now!" She orders.


... This is a far greater reaction than you excepted. With how powerful she is, the situation should not require such a demonstration of force so soon. Regardless of the risk to her associate, the girl herself is perfectly safe and so should not feel the need to scare you into surrendering. Unless...

You look at the woman again, pushing aside her powerful aura. Her pupils are dilated, her hand wavers slightly on her weapon's guard, Her breathing is uneven. For a split second, her eyes turn furtively toward Komoe and the nun and her hands tighten around her weapon at the sight of the bloodied cloth.

The woman is nervous. Shaken. Scared.

She is not the cold professional she tries to project, her emotion playing a bigger part in her action than her judgement. Despite her powers, her confidence is not absolute. She cares about the well-being of the people in this room and doesn't wish to put them at risk any more than you do.

There is still room for you to strike, a chink in her armor you can stab at. The battle is not yet lost.

You will

[] Run away!
-[] With Index
--[] With Komoe
---[] Both

[]Attack(choose your weapon)
[]Get her to retreat
[]Get her to lay down her weapon and talk

...?

To do that, you will
[]Give up Styil
[]threaten Styil
[]Kill Styil
[]...?

---------------
I suck horrendously at keeping it simple.

 

[Megaolix]

Not sure what to do yet, but here's a simple advice here: Don't even think of being violent. If she's nervous now, this sure as hell won't be the case if she deems us a threat rather than someone that just got caught in all this.

 

[Liam-don]

Not sure if I managed to get it across, but Archer doesn't think battle is entirely hopeless. It's a long shot, but coming out on top against a superior opponent is what he does.

 

[Redon]

[X]Attack(Gae Dearg)
-[x] Get the two weapons tangled up, making her sword useless.
-[x] Get her to sit down and talk like civilized fighters.

 

[nick012000]

[X] Attack (A copy of her sword)

After all, when we Trace a sword, we get all of its wielders skills and relevant powers. Even if we can't replicate her magic or defensive powers, copying her offensive abilities ought to significantly level the playing field.

 

[Selias]

[X] Get her to lay down her weapon and talk
[X] Give up Styil

She's already shown that she cares about this guy, so giving him up would buy some good will. Plus, if she still decides to attack, she'll have to protect him, and we may be able to force her to retreat if we keep attacking him.

 

[Alexander]

[X] Attack. With: Monohoshi Zao, the weapon of Sasaki Kojiro.
-[X] No need to win: just create an opening to grab both Index and Komoe and run

I can safely say getting her to calm down and talk is even less likely than beating her. So we don't do it. Instead we borrow Kojiro's sword skills and then run away with the (little) girls.

Oh, and thank for the roll Mega ^^.

 

[Pipeman]

[X] Get her to lay down her weapon and talk
[X] Give up Styil

Why would getting her to talk not be an option?
Touma managed it on his own, after all, and we are probably a lot better at discerning people's psychological weakpoints and abusing them than he is.
And, even if we fail, Touma is still here.

Not to mention that the winning condition isn't to get her to calm down, but that she tells us the "truth" which will promptly allow everyone with the common sense to fact check (most likely only Komoe; maybe even us) to call bullshit.

 

[Megaolix]

[X] Get her to lay down her weapon and talk
[X] Give up Styil

Taking her on in combat would just be incredibly stupid. Sure, she's isn't being as strong as she try to project. But Archer did just say he's completely outclassed. And taking her on in combat will have her fall back in a situation she's far more familiar with.

And I agree with Pipeman. Should we have her tell us their story, Komoe is here to call bullshit on it immediately.

 

[Zasnul]

[X] Get her to lay down her weapon and talk
[X] Give up Styil

(Im)Possibility of winning is not even a factor here - fighting in this particular case is a subpar course of action by its very nature. And Archer can be very, very convincing. I am not sure about meatshield, thought.

>After all, when we Trace a sword, we get all of its wielders skills and relevant powers. Even if we can't replicate her magic or defensive powers, copying her offensive abilities ought to significantly level the playing field.

Just to be clear in future, Archer creates imperfect copies of swords and their history. "Borrowed" skills are always inferior to the real thing.

 

[Liam-don]

Oh shoot. I hadn't noticed that Biigoh had countered Mega's roll. Let me retcon that with your abject failure in mind...

 

[Megaolix]

Oh shoot. I hadn't noticed that Biigoh had countered Mega's roll. Let me retcon that with your abject failure in mind...

Click to shrink...

That's a joke, right?

...Right?

 

[iamnuff]

[X] Get her to lay down her weapon and talk
[X] Give up Styil


whether this works or not depends entirely on what we roll for it, so why not choose the most optimistic plan regardless?

also, don't let pipeman roll.